Handle grips and method of making them



May 27, 1958 R. E. LAMKIN EIAL 2,836,420

HANDLE GRIPS AND METHOD OF MAKING THEM Filed Aug. 19, 1954 FIG. 3 I816%;

Ian

26 4&31103 2 INVENTORS MAM-m United States Patent HANDLE GRIPS ANDMETHOD OF MAKING TEEM Robert E. Lamkin and Elver l5. Lamkin, Chicago,IlL,

assignors to Lamkin Leather (30., Chicago, ill., a corporation oflllinois Application August 19, 1954, Serial No. 450,945

4 Claims. (Cl. 273--81.6)

and. with pleasantly yielding surfaces between the, joints which affordan improved safety grip for the continuous manual engagement or hold onthe handle to which the grip is applied.

A further object of the invention is to provide an improved method ofmaking handle grips in which relatively thin strips are secured togetherin a particular manner to form narrow grooved butt edges turned inwardlyso that they are not easily turned outwardly or puckered by continueduse.

Still further objects of the invention are to provide an improved methodof joining thin strips of handle grip materials; to provide an improvedcushioning eifect between the butt edges of the grip material; toprovide an improved appearance of the grip Without sacrificing anythingin the way of applying a grip of this kind to a handle; and to provide apleasing variable appearance of the grip by combining strips ofdifferent colors or appearance.

Other objects of the invention will appear in the specification and willbe apparent from the accompanying drawings in which,

Fig. 1 is an elevated view of a handle of a golf club to which a grip ofthis invention is applied;

Figs. 28 inclusive illustrate the progressive steps in forming a handlegrip in accordance with this invention of which,

Fig. 2 is a sectional view of one strip of material from which thehandle grip is made out to the proper width;

Fig. 3 is a sectional view of a strip with opposite edges angularly cutor skived to provide thin attachment edges.

Fig. 4 is a sectional view showing two strips of material placed inopposite relative position before they are attached.

Fig. 5 is a sectional view showing stitching for attaching the adjacentstrips of Fig. 4 at one edge of each strip.

Fig. 6 is a sectional view illustrating the strips stretched out in flatrelation.

Fig. 7 is a sectional view showing the strips extended as in Fig. 6 butwith the projecting ridge formed by the stitching flattened at one sideinto the material itself; and

Fig. 8 is a sectional view illustrating the contact of the intermediatestitch portion and the curled outer edges of the joint strips as appliedto a handle as shown in Fig. 1.

In grips for golf clubs and the like, it is found desirable to have asurface which is not too. smooth such as produced by a flat strip withstraight edges abutting flatly together, but rather a surface to which aslightly yielding grip material is provided with closely adjacent smallgrooves extending continuously around the handle when the grip materialis spirally Wound thereon.

The present invention proposes to make the strips of leather not toothick which have a pleasing feeling when gripped by the hands as theyadhere readily to the outer surface of the leather and because of thegrooves being closely spaced, the hands do not tend to. slip or becomedisengaged from the handle.

Referring now more particularly to the drawings, the grip comprises acontinuous double strip of materials it? and 12 which are sewed togetherand wrapped spirally about a shaft or handle 14 by connecting one end ofthe double strip to the lower portion of the handle and winding thedoubie strip tightly about the. handle overlapping it at the outer endthereof and securing the outer end to the shaft or handle by means of acap 161, in a well known manner. This method of wrapping and attachingis the conventional method of applying a grip in strip form to a handleand the present invention relates particularly to the method of formingthe grip as well as to this type of grip in connection with a handle.

In forming the grip, the strips 10 and 12 are first cut to the desiredwidth and thickness in the cross section 1th: in Fig. 2. The oppositeedges at the same side of this strip are then angularly cut or skived toproduce the inclined edges 18 as shown in Fig. 3 and the later figures.

Two similar strips 1% and 12 are then placed oppositely together asshown in Fig. 4; the cut edges 18 at the outsides and the adjacent thinedges on one side are joined by a continuous line of stitching 29 whichtightly fastens the two strips together. The opposite thin edges arepreferably formed with slight curls 22 which extend in the direction ofthe edges 18 so that when the joined strips are opened as shown in Fig.6, the edges connected by the stitching 26 will form a somewhat angularprojection 24 at the side opposite the outer faces of these strips. Ifthe strips are flattened as shown, there will be an inwardly curvinggroove 26 in the outer face opposite the projection 24.

The next operation as shown by Fig. 7 is to flatten the projection 24 atone side or the other of the stitching by running this side of thedouble strip under a roller 28 against the surface 30 at the other sideas represented in Fig. 7 which will partially flatten the projectioninto one of the strips so that the back surface of the double strip ispractically flat and the curl 22 at the edges tends to turn inwardly asrepresented by -Fig. 8. In this condition, the pressure of the roller 28is removed and the strip with the groove 26 and the curls 22 at the edgeis ready to be applied to a shaft or handle.

When the double strip is wound spirally about a handle, the abutment ofthe edges of each succeeding spiral tends to turn the curls inwardly toform grip engagement grooves 32 which are similar in depth andappearance to the grooves 26 between the connected strips 10 and 12.

With this construction, it is a simple and relatively inexpensive methodof making a double strip and applying it to a handle. The result is agrip material which has narrow strips connected by frequent grooves, theouter abutting edges of the strip having resilient curls which tend tosoften the contact of the grip when engaged manually so that the doublegrooves between the strips may be made of leather or other material ofone color whi1e-1theiother strip isflof another color. In other words,the strip 10 may be made of red leather and the strip. 12 mayf be ,made10f black or blue leather, :thus

' outdeparting from the spirit and scope of the invention.

;jW.e clairn: 1 ,1 V .1 1. A'duplex handle grip'for playing clubs,implements and'the like,.comprising a pair of similarnarrow strips offlexible grip material stitched togetheralong one edge of eachstrip andjointly wrapped spirally around the handle in a continuoustabuttingrelationwith the stitched a; V f strips add materially to the feel ofthe grip and the nonslipping contact of the hands, therewith. 1 V Tomake this double grip more attractive, one of the edges turned, inwardlyagainst the handle to provide an and all edges curled inwardly toprovide two grooves for each applied portion ofthe grip.

router rounded V-groove, and the outer edge of each strip curledinwardlyto providerwith the adjacent spiral 3. The method of makingan'elongated dupleir grooved handle grip wspirally applied to thehandles of playing clubs, implements, and the like, which comprisesplacing,

two similar strips of flexible handle material face'to face,

stitching them together along the corresponding edge of each strip,unfolding the strips and applying the said faces to the handle incontinuous abutting relation, forming a 7 central outwardly roundedV-groove' between thejoined strips, and curlingfthe outer unstitchededges of the strips inwardly to form; a second outwardly-roundedV-groove for each applied portion of the jointstrips.

4. In the method of makinga duplex handle gripac- V cording to claim 3,the added step of angularly skiving the rear edges of each "strip beforethe strips are stitched I together and curling the unstitched edgesrearwardly before the joint strips, are applied to a handle to produceeach portion of the applied joint two V-grooves for strips.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS298,288 "Cox May 6,1884- 1,320,413 Reznic'ek Nov 4, 1919 2,116,621 DixonMay 10,193 2,207,062 Lamkin July 9, 1940 2,513,655 Lamkinet al. July 4,1950 2,671,661 Goodwin Mar. 9, .1954

FOREIGN PATENTS 1 128,318 Australia July 13, 1948

